The production of my contents page

Lucy Eldridge

I started off my contents page with putting ‘contents’ in a black box with yellow writing (which follows my colour scheme, I need to make sure it looks like it’s from the same magazine as the front cover). I added a drop shadow to make it more interesting and make it pop off of the page. I then added a page splitter of the black rectangle (the photo will go above and the writing beneath). I noticed whilst doing my research that the name of the magazine is put here, in the same masthead as is on the front cover. I put that in to and added the yellow text of ‘THIS WEEK’ (another convention I noticed).

‘’FIRST opinions usually stick. But this week at Reckless we exclusively

talk to Rose.R, to hear her side of the story. Behind the dark makeup,

dark lifestyle and dark personality she reveals her true self. This is

definitely an issue NOT to miss out on. As we love our Reckless readers,

this week we’ve provided you with not one, not two but THREE free

posters of your favourite bands. Be sure to check out P60-70 aswell,

where we talk all things festival and recommend all the very best,

wildest, muddiest and craziest!’’- I then added this for the editors note. It’s really informal to give a friendly approach, like as if you’re talking to a friend. I also used direct address: ‘you’ to directly address the reader and make them feel involved. I wanted to create a relationship between the reader and my magazine and make the reader feel very loyal towards it. I added my name at the bottom to give it an even more personal touch, as they actually know who I am.

After looking at it my magazine for a while I decided to change the text of ‘Lucy’ to make it look like handwriting. This makes it look like a signature which makes the magazine feel even more personal and relatable towards, as they can put a person behind the magazine. I have also noticed that in Kerrangs contents pages they usually do this ,which is what influenced me to change the writing.

I then added these headers. I designed them the same to my the ‘contents’ and ‘this week’ style, as I wanted them to match and fit the house style.I am pleased with the magazine so far.

I added this to the bottom of my contents page. I have noticed it’s a typical convention of the magazines I have researched such as NME and Kerrang! I also noticed that it doesn’t usually follow the house scheme as is usually a very bright colour, as to stand out and draw attention. I made the text box bright blue, as this is a very eye catching colour. I also used direct address such as ‘you’ to make the reader feel directly targeted and as if the magazine is doing it specially for them. This helps to create a relationship towards the reader and make the reader loyal towards the magazine.

I then arranged the text in the centre of each column. However I really do not think this looks very interesting. I think the black writing just looks dull and it doesn’t look fun. It also doesn’t particularly make you want to continue reading. I am going to play around with some different variety’s of arranging my text. I had also used my previous target audience research to create the text, as I know they enjoy festivals such as Reading and Glastonbury. I also know the kind of bands they like: A day to remember, You me at six etc so that influenced which artists I put in my contents page as I wanted them to be very interested in the stories on the contents page.

I made the text red which stands out a lot more than the black text, however I don’t think this looks very realistic for a contents page and I don’t think it goes with my house scheme at all. I am going to continue experimenting with different texts.

I then used black boxes behind white text to create this. I am really pleased with this style and it looks a lot more realistic for the type of magazine genre I am aiming to produce. I think it stands out and has and edgy/rock look to it.

I used somewhat informal text as information about what these stories are about. I also used alliteration ‘second stunner’ to make the text seem more interesting and fun. I used some buzz words underneath Rose. R ‘exclusive interview’ – Reckless are the first to cover this new, exciting news. ‘A day to remember rock out a reckless’ also fits in with the rock magazine theme and the rebellious side of the magazine, that I am trying to convey.

I then added page numbers to help add to the realism of the magazine. I used matching blue to the ‘subscribe today’ box to make it fit in and link.

I also thought the bit underneath ‘reviews’ looked very blank, so I decided that I am going to do a poster section in that bit and use photos I haven taken at gigs/festivals there as the ‘free three posters’ given away.

Cover story logoI have noticed that a typical convention for contents pages are cover story logos. I made a cover story logo on PowerPoint, in which I coloured a circle red and added a yellow glow effect around. I then put in ‘COVER STORY!’ in bright yellow and added a shadow. I think this small detail will help add to the realism of the page and brighten it up a bit.

COVER STORY LOGO I FOUND IN MY RESEARCH IN KERRANG CONTENTS PAGE

I’m really pleased with the cover story logo. It makes the page look a lot more colourful, and is an interesting touch. I also think it helps follow the conventions of typical rock magazines aimed to young people.

I am going to get audience feedback on my production of my contents page so far- I have yet to add the main photo above the ‘Reckless this week’ part. I also have to add the photos that are going underneath the ‘posters’ section. However I think it will be important to gain feedback from my target audience as they can tell me what they like and dislike about it, so I can make improvements and changes, to suit their needs and wants.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK EVALUATION

Overall I was really pleased with my feedback, as a lot if it was really positive such as ‘good font choice’ ‘organised headings’. I was also pleased that the content seemed to appeal to the audience I am aiming towards, as one person put ‘the content appeals to the age range’ and ‘A day to remember section!! I would buy it’. This is really useful to know, as I know I am doing the right thing and putting in the right type of bands/content to appeal. However I did get some constructive criticism of the subscribe box from most of my target audience. I will look at these and take their advice carefully as they’re who I want to buy the magazine and the ‘customer is always right’.

Changing the subscribe boxThree of the post stick notes I got from my audience feedback; mentioned about changing the ‘subscribe now’ box. They said it didn’t match the theme and that they would prefer the colour to be changed and to make it take less attention away from the rest of the contents page. I was attempting to make the reader have their attention drawn to this, to make them subscribe, but they did not like this. However I am going to change it because I want my magazine to be fully suited towards my target audience.

Firstly I attended the need of making the box take less attention from the rest of the contents page. Looking at it before I really agree with this audience feedback, as before it was a bit too big and did slightly dominate the page. I think now it looks a lot more balanced and doesn’t steal attention away from anything else on my page.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

VIn my audience feedback I also got to advised to change the font to match the style of the contents page. I changed it to Minion pro, which is the font I am using for the rest of the page. I think this makes it fit in more and looks similar to the rest of the text.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

I also got advised in my audience feedback to match the box to my colour scheme and possibly change it to yellow. I this this looks a lot better as it does fit in with my colour scheme and ties in more with the whole contents page. It’s also even more eye-catching than before without being oversized, which is a plus. However I personally don’t think the red text goes with the box so I am going to change that.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

Although it does fit in with colour scheme more, I think I actually somewhat prefer the red text as it ties in with the red of the ‘cover story’ logo and is much more eye catching than the blue, so I am going to change it back again.

I thought the space underneath ‘Glastonbury’ looked a bit blank, so I filled it in with another festival. I kept in mind my target audience- as many of them would be students and would struggle to pay the costs of the other festivals, I came up with a cheaper alternative to put in my magazine to appeal to them- The Underage Festival. (Only around £30). Also this appeals to the younger members of my target audience (I’m targeting around 16-20) so the 16-18 year olds would be able to go.

This is a photo I took a few years ago at the Underage Festival in 2010. I will be using it for the main image

I used windows picture editor just to tweak with the contrast, shadows and colour.

Adding the photo

Adding the poster photos

• This is my audience feedback on my final contents page. I am really pleased as all the comments were positive and they were all from people in my target audience. This must mean I have produced my contents page well and that it appeals to them. Overall I feel that this has been very successful and I have learnt a lot. I found it hard at first to find a main image. However searching through all my old photos was very helpful! There have been something’s that weren’t so good with my work but I managed to improve them and through getting constant feedback and spending a lot of time on it, I feel I have produced a contents page of a high quality.